Here I sit at my desk, a CDR in my hand with a plain white surface and scrawled onto it with the black ink of a sharpie it reads: "One" Neal Morse--Final Master Copy.
I went up to Neal's house recently to film him doing some of his one man show that he's been gigging out recently. As soon as I got there, and after the obligatory greetings and hugs, he promptly said something like, 'Man it's finished I'm gonna make you a copy!'
That's just like Neal too, ever the kid in a candy store! The fruit of months of laboring over and writing, recording and mixing and he makes me a copy to hear the done deal! trusting me to not give it away on the net through thief to thief file swapping or burning copies for my friends to hear. It's a good feeling being trusted like that. So I say to Neal, " Man you want me to review this?" He says something like, 'well yeah, I hadn't thought about that....is it too soon? Don't you guys normally do that like a month before it comes out?' I'm like, 'Yeah well it is almost a month away right?' He says, ' Just wait till October and then throw it out there...hey man let's go listen to it!"
So smiling like a mule eating briars he takes me to the studio room and throws it in the player and BOOM we are rocking! One thing about Neal, He isn't shy! We're sitting there rocking out to this slab of prog rock and from time to time, between his arms waving in time to the accents and beats like a mad conductor, he throws in some narration astounded by the final mix and how it all turned out. Phrases like, ' The mix sounds great' 'Oh man check out Portnoy there!' 'Listen to that bass, full, fat and round! Randy (George) really pulled that one out!' 'check that percussion...oh it's sweet...dude played exactly what it needed!' 'Man that's Chris Carmicheal is singing there, I didn't know he sang, he's doing that high part' 'The strings and horns turned out great didn't they?' 'Oh here comes Keaggy's solo and he's singing there...that guy is sooooo cool!' On and on we go and he's right...the album sounds spectacular! Lush production, blazing chops from all the players involved, fluid arrangements, it truly all came together as it should and then some.
Like me, you too will be attracted first by the music itself. Yet by spin #2 or 3 you'll begin to realise the music plays second fiddle to the story of us all!
My first thought after hearing the album the second time on my own at home in my headphones is: "This is so much bigger than one man could possibly have come up with on his own." Like a movie that is so good you forget you're watching a movie! This thing seems 'directed' beyond what a man can do himself. To be sure he had lots of help but I'm insuating an 'Other' presence making this work! So you will either conclude that Neal is indeed a genuis, or merely a channel through which a Vast Creativity has poured Itself resulting in a work so grand, so ominous, so penetrating that I dare anyone to not be affected by it!
Like costumes, scenery, sets, props and lighting in a movie support the story being told to bring it alive, so to does the music in "One" perfectly support and bring alive every emotion in the story. I say that because it needs to be understood, that though many will buy the record for the killer music, and it is killer!, this music is a product of the story.
So the questions, "What is the story?' "What is "One" all about?' beg answering. Well the Bible has lots of little stories to really paint one big picture. "One" is Neal's artistic rendering of that big picture and it goes basically like this: In the beginning God and Man were of one mind, God withheld none of Himself from Man and His Creation except that Man should not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Still God let that choice to eat or not be Man's own decision. Most of you are aware what happened...he ate. This caused Man to fall and become seperated from God because of the sin. Man walks his own path to self destruction. God devises a plan to get Man back, we call it Salvation, and the result is the oppurtunity for all men to become 'One' with God again. That's the short of it and I'll leave it you to follow the story in the album...it's very cool and very interesting and travels along just a like a great movie script!
Some technical notes about the album and i 'll leave you to scrape up some cash in about a month to buy this masterwork.
So by now you 'get it' that this is a concept album. The music is varied and pulls up different emotions all the way through keeping you interested. This music would be great to see live for sure.
Also worth mentioning is that this record should do well to establish Neal as a shredding axe slinger. Neal was fortunate enough to get his hands on two vintage Gibson guitars. One was an ES-335 and the other a Les Paul Standard. This is of particular interest to me because this one element changed the sound quite dramatically from "Testimony" along with Neal's insistance to use real vintage keyboards and organs. The Gibson's were played through equally amazing heads like an Orange amp, a Mesa Boogie Rectifier, and a Fender Bassman head. No POD on this puppy! It's real and you can feel it! In fact I filmed the guitar overdubs for the Making Of DVD and all I remember seeing was the guitars, amps, and one Boss blue compression pedal he used to get some feedback and a bump in the grit from the amp heads. So get ready! There is some very heavy sounding guitar work on here. Some torch lighting solos and clever dynamic work to color it all.
Alot of you want to know is it like
Transatlantic? Yes! Take
Transatlantic, the orchestral beauty of Testimony and some clear nods to the prog greats of Asia, Genesis, and YES along with some lesser pop sounds like old Tears For Fears and Who derived moments and Neal's unescapable Beatles influence, Van Morrison styled horn sections in "Reunion" and you will have it all. Obviously the help Neal recieved from Portnoy and George in the arranging process really contributed to the
Transatlantic feel and that must be noted.
Speaking of Portnoy. Hold onto your socks! There are some absolute freak out moments of drum god envy going on! I mean that guy has done some freaky stuff with
Dream Theater to say the least but there are a couple of tunes on here like "Author Of Confusion" that were seemingly written to give Portnoy the oppurtunity to shine, I dare say, brighter than ever before! Like Neal Peart's drumming in Tom Sawyer! ......haha You'll see!
Special guest Phil Keaggy drops down two solos. One an acoustic thing and the other electric, along with some BGV's and a lead part singing as God in the beautiful ballad "Cradle To The Grave."
Great music, the story to end all stories! Where could he possibly go from here?! Only God knows and I'm sure when the time is right He'll let Neal know too! I said it in my "Testimony" review last year that I believed that Neal was better on his own than with Spock's Beard. This album firmly cements that belief in my head and heart and I can only truly believe Neal did indeed hear God right when He told him to leave Spock's.
79 minutes and 55 seconds of a grand music movie that essentially, minus the gory visuals, leads me to say, "Neal Morse is the Quentin Tarantino of Progressive Rock."
Written by
David Monday, October 4, 2004
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